Watch: Brazilian Amazon sinkholes force evacuations, destroy homes

An aerial view of erosion in Buriticupu, Brazil, taken in 2023. An unusual phenomenon caused by a lack of urban planning and aggressive deforestation is driving Buriticupu, a small town in Brazil's impoverished northeastern state of Maranhao, towards gradual collapse, experts say. Photo / AFP

• A state of emergency has been declared in the Brazilian Amazon due to massive sinkholes.
• Around 1200 people in Buriticupu are at risk, with several buildings already destroyed.
• The sinkholes, worsened by rain and deforestation, have been a problem for three decades.

A state of emergency has been declared in the Brazilian Amazon after massive sinkholes opened up, threatening thousands of homes.

Several buildings in the city of Buriticupu, in Maranhao state, have already been destroyed, with around 1200 people at risk of losing their homes to the widening abyss.

“In the space of the last few months, the dimensions have expanded exponentially, approaching substantially closer to the residences,” said an emergency decree issued by the city government this month about the sinkholes.

Pictures from Buriticupu show the sinkholes have divided tree-lined forests near a row of houses.

Massive sinkholes are inching toward homes in this town in Brazil, prompting a state of emergency. pic.twitter.com/ooK92N2qpe

— DW News (@dwnews) February 22, 2025

Some of the houses, which have been abandoned, have already started to collapse as the sinkholes widen.

The recent sinkholes, which are several metres deep, mark the escalation of a problem that residents in Buriticupu have witnessed for three decades.

Rain has slowly eroded soils, known in Brazil as “voçoroca”, a word of indigenous origins that means “to tear the earth” and is the equivalent of sinkholes.

Poorly planned building work and deforestation has also put thousands of homes at risk.

The problem has worsened during periods of heavy rain, as has occurred recently, according to Marcelino Farias, a professor at the University of Maranhao.

Antonia dos Anjos, who has lived in Buriticupu for 22 years, fears more sinkholes will soon appear.

“There’s this danger right in front of us, and nobody knows where this hole has been opening up underneath,” the 65-year-old said.

Lucas Conceiçao, an engineer and the secretary of public works in Buriticupu, said the municipality clearly does not have the capacity to find solutions for the complex sinkhole situation.

“These problems range from the erosion processes to the removal of people who are in the risk area,” he said.